Stuck in Sorcerian Hell

[_Paul]

I got this for Christmas (mostly for the soundtrack) and only once have been able to get off of the menu screen and into the game!
I think I know (from some FAQs from other versions) what the options are, but I just can't get out into the levels again. I've got my characters and made the party...I'm not sure what I'm missing.

Anyone have a clue?

[Arkhan Asylum]

did you create AND organize your party?  Be sure to equip everyone.

Once you do that you go start the adventure. You can't do that unless you have an organized party, kinda like Ultima III on NES.

I've never played the PCE sorcerian, just the MSX one.  any chance of screenshots for the menus? We can see if they're the same, and maybe get you rollin'!

also, I want to see the PCE game in action.

[_Paul]

Here is the main screen.
/cd240ddcf0001.png

I use the auto character to make up the 4 party members.

Then I use the bit on the left to put the members into a party.

This is the error I get. I've not equipped anyone but I don't see a way to do that (the time I got into the level before, I'm pretty sure I didn't visit the shops first or set professions)


/cd240ddcf0002.png

[Arkhan Asylum]

Create your party with the 3rd option down on the right
Add them with the 3rd option down on the left

Top left option starts the game.

5th option down is to go to town.

Heres the entire menu:

Begin Adventure    View Party Organize Party Disband Party Town Save Characters Quit

Advance time (1 year) View Character Create Character Delete Character Change Occupation Load characters

Does that help at all?

You have to equip your team (send them to town one at a time) before going on your adventure.

Hope this helps

[_Paul]

Here's where I am now.

I have created 4 characters (with the auto party option).
I have gone to town and purchased weapons/armour/robes as requied for each character.
I have put the characters into a party.

I still get the same error when trying to start the first level.

If it helps, here's a screen of one of my characters. I am assuming the light blue text is the weapons/armour equipped.

/cd240ddcf0003.png


This game is in desperate need of a translation patch.


EDIT: AHA! I translated the error. It said there were too many members in my party - So I made a party of 3 and it worked!

[ParanoiaDragon]

Dammit, I was hoping I could tell you that!  Yeah, the first level requires 3 people(took me forever to figure that out bitd), though, beyond that, I couldn't figure the level out, did alot of running around, & ....yeah.  LMK how that level turns out, since I never did figure it out!

[Arkhan Asylum]

doh.  I suppose I should have warned you about only making 3 people.

and yes, a translation of Sorcerian would be awesome.

[_Paul]

Hmm, I ran around the town, then into the dungeon. I found a potion or jar which unblocked a passage - this led to a door which threw me back outside.

After talking to everyone I have no idea how to complete the level. Running back to the entrance puts me in another screen of Japanese but the level isn't completed.

I may have to just treat this one as a music CD, it's massively difficult to work out.

[_Paul]

Wohoo. Some very kind person emailed me the solution to my first level problem. Now I can give the game a real proper go.

[CDJ]

Wohoo. Some very kind person emailed me the solution to my first level problem. Now I can give the game a real proper go.

And here I am. I don't know what you did to the admin but it obviously worked, thanks.

Dammit, I was hoping I could tell you that!  Yeah, the first level requires 3 people(took me forever to figure that out bitd), though, beyond that, I couldn't figure the level out, did alot of running around, & ....yeah.  LMK how that level turns out, since I never did figure it out!

COPY & PASTE!

You can actually go up the mountain, which was a little tricky for me to figure out as well, since the PCEngine version's controls are pretty sloppy. Enter the first building on top of the mountain, give the medicine you found in the cave to the sick guy, after that you can enter the second building on the mountain, make your way to the end of the very linear dungeon, kill the dragon boss and after that, the quest is essentially completed, you'll have to walk all the way to the beginning of the level though. And don't forget to talk to everyone in town before leaving as you'll get some presents. (As far as I remember it's just money, not too sure.)

In the following screen you have the option to either equip the items found in this quest, to sell them or to have them examined. (None of your characters has the ability to examine items at this point...and as far as I remember you didn't really find any equippable items in this quest either so your only option would be selling them.) And while we're talking about items...most items aren't visibly presented as treasure chests and such, you'll find most items, (especially ingredients for healing items.) hidden on walls if you bump into them.

After you've finished the first quest, you'll get free selection over which one you want to tackle next.

[_Paul]

Glad you finally made in here, welcome!

I'm now about 4 levels in and enjoying it. There is something oddly appealing about Sorcerian. Despite the awkward control scheme and general gameplay many degrees worse than Ys 3, it does have a certain quality to it and feels like an adventure. Some of the background graphics are lovely and atmospheric (while others are a little basic) and the music helps a lot.

This has now been raised to my number 1 most wanted project to be translated. It really needs an English patch for people to get over the initial hurdles.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Sorcerian is my favorite in the Dragon Slayer series for sure. 

It is a very atmospheric and well put together adventure game, even if some of the control aspects blow.

and yes, a translation is in order.

[CDJ]

This has now been raised to my number 1 most wanted project to be translated. It really needs an English patch for people to get over the initial hurdles.

There actually is an official US release, it was released for PC in 1990 by Sierra. I haven't played that version myself, (Though it's available for download free and legal.) but from what I can gather it's quests are loosely based on the original PC-8801 ones.

The music's horrible though.

Sorcerian PC-8801: First Quest

Sorcerian PC (US): First Quest

[_Paul]

I keep seeing links for the download but they all appear to be broken. Still, it looks pretty ghastly, but it would be nice to know what's going on.

[Digi.k]

Another thread brought back from the ashes.. know this is really old thread but I am kinda working on basic stuff...















Hope this is ok.  just let me know if any mistakes and I will amend.

[Arkhan Asylum]

FUCK YEAH SORCERIAN THREAD NECROS LOL GIT IT.

Those look OK, but it's also 3am and I've been playing UO for 12 hours so my eyes aren't really doing things that work right now.

I was just playing this on MSX like last week.

The FM tunes on that version are awesome.

[_Paul]

Another thread brought back from the ashes.. know this is really old thread but I am kinda working on basic stuff...

Hope this is ok.  just let me know if any mistakes and I will amend.

This ties in to something I've been thinking over recently. It would be nice if we could create 'How to play' guides for PCE games - Just a simple overview of controls and gameplay features, plus menu translations. These would be really useful for those games not released in the US, or for those that are when you only have a JP version.

[Digi.k]

Hope this is correct again...



Here you can change the characters gender and race,  Human, elf and Dwarf, wizard or Fighter
The BONUS are extra points which can be allocated to any of the specific stats.

EDIT: 20/04/2017
REGARDING the pc engine version you can only create up to 8 characters.
the job change/profession is money your character earns when not in battle, BUT depending on the profession and your character class ie warrior/mage/dwarf etc your profession could have a detrimental or positive effect on your character stats!


List of missions,  Once you complete the first mission Before Dark all the others then become available and can be played in any order and be re-played again and again.


In-Game menu,  Just press RUN to bring it up.  Press SELECT in-game will cycle the leader of you party


to be continued...

[Trenton_net]

The translations are super helpful! Thanks for all work.

[Opethian]

yea thanks for this ive ben going from the PC port to the MSX but the music is terrible in the PC adlib

you have to create a party of 4 take them to town and buy weapons/armor/shield or staff/robe/ring for mages. explore and kill what you can when you end up back at the beginning go back to town and train. I think what you can train is based on your job. I think the PCE version has all the scenario 1 and 2 missions included.

[Digi.k]

Before you assemble your party you can visit the town.  If you have already created a party you will have to disband.....

Then select the character you would like to enter....

The town of Pentawa




Weapons and Armor Shop

[Digi.k]

Ester the Witch welcome to her House and a course in Sorcerian Magic!




MAGIC ENCHANTING

Magic enchanting an item will only work for Wizards and Elves.  Each character can only enchant  1 at a time.  It takes 3 years and unless you have a spare weapon you cannot take that character to do any mission without an weapon etc.  Once the 3 years is up you take the item out of the depository and you can enchant another magic to that item. Repeat the process again.




7 types of of Planetary Stars to represent 7 types of Magic



This begins to get a little complicated but I hope you guys can work it out!


Taken from gamefaqs:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/581745-sorcerian/faqs/42175


Wearing an enchanted item increases your stats, and it is possible to go beyond the maximum in this way. (However, the effect only takes place during scenarios, which means that KRM bonuses cannot be exploited.) Each god increases a particular stat, (see the Elder section for details) and the item can be enchanted multiple times by the same god, but complications arise when one or more gods are present on the item when it is enchanted. No interference: There is no heterogenous enchantment on the item. This includes the case of an unenchanted item. The result is simply to add +1 to the god in question. Single interference: There is one heterogenous enchantment. Most combina- tions give the ordinary result (indicated by the . in the tables below), but some have unusual effects.

The following two tables are equivalent; the top shows changes made to the initial state (indicated by + and -) while the bottom instead shows the final state, assuming the initial state had 1 level of the prior god. An X indicates a loss of the prior god with no gain. (Prior enchantment is vertical on the left, added is horizontal on the top.)

Multiple inferference: There is more than one heterogenous enchantment. These are handled on a case by case basis in the table below. This assumes you are starting with 1 each of the prior enchantments. Note that the table can be partially predicted by superposing the results from multiple single interference enchantments. (i.e. regard them as simultaneous)








Spell list here in japanese of course...
http://homepage2.nifty.com/tkdate/Pc88_98/magic/magiclist.html


Spell recipes for:

Offence
Defence
Heal

To be Continued.

[Digi.k]

Your local Pharmacy

You will have 2 options,  Herb preparation where you can create medicine or buy already made.


Buying potions.



To make potions you need to collect the following herbs...

VERBENA - ベルベーヌ
LAVENDER - ラベンダー
SAGE - セージ
HYSSOP - ヒソップ

Potion recipes for:

Attack
Defence
Heal

To be cont...

[Digi.k]

Again let me know if it is incorrect..will amend.

Temple

Making a prayer at the temple once a year may have an impact on the success of raising the dead.




Elders House

For a fee the Elder can appraise an item and there might be a chance that for a bigger fee unlock hidden secrets in these items.

EDIT: 20/04/2019
Also if you forgotten what kind of enchantment is on a particular item then get it appraised by the elder.


EDIT: 20/04/2017
At the end of your visit to the Elder he will also give you a tip in creating spells etc. in Japanese of course...


Castle Throne Room

In this example here the King declares that you need to 564 exp to level up.   You can also present ITEMS that you find to the king.  They might also be of use to your characters so be careful what you GIFT to him!



The DOJO

If your characters are weak or they just can't beat that mission and the monsters are too strong.  Get your characters down to the DOJO and train up individual abilities.  Training takes up to 2 years.  This might be a good idea to train a particular STAT if you are enchanting an item that can take up to 3 years.

[_Paul]

This is all brilliant stuff. I might even give it another try soon.

[Digi.k]

This is all brilliant stuff. I might even give it another try soon.

I am still trying to figure out some of the translations some just don't seem to make much sense...

Kinda working on some of those missions too now.

[Digi.k]

STATUS AILMENTS
If your characters is carrying too much you might need to sell some stuff which you can do in Pentawa Town armor & weapon shop before you can carry any new stuff.

If your character has turned RED all over chances are they may have been poisoned.  To remedy you can buy CURE from the pharmacy and use it when starting/during a mission.


If your characters has turned dark BLUE all over chances are they might be cursed.  Again you can buy a remedy from the pharmacy and use it when starting/during a mission.


to be cont...

[EmperorIng]

This topic has proven immensely helpful for getting into the game, especially thanks to Digi.k's guides.

Getting used to the first quest might be tricky until you realize that you can actually climb the gentle incline before the entrance to the cave and go up the mountain.

I didn't see it explicitly mentioned, so I'll say this: if your character does not have a weapon, they will not be allowed to go questing. So make sure all of your party has the appropriate gear (everyone should have enough to get armor and a weapon for their respective class).

I do have a question though: how exactly does reviving a dead party member work? I can't seem to beat the first-quest's dragon boss without one of my magic users (elf or wizard) dying.

I don't know if I can use resurrection potions on the party menu screen (with all the different options on booting up the game). Going to the priest and selecting that party member doesn't seem to do anything either. Is there a set chance of success (that I need to keep on doing)? Do I need to leave the screen and try again? Or is it some type of perma-death? Thanks for any info!

[Digi.k]

I do have a question though: how exactly does reviving a dead party member work? I can't seem to beat the first-quest's dragon boss without one of my magic users (elf or wizard) dying.

I don't know if I can use resurrection potions on the party menu screen (with all the different options on booting up the game). Going to the priest and selecting that party member doesn't seem to do anything either. Is there a set chance of success (that I need to keep on doing)? Do I need to leave the screen and try again? Or is it some type of perma-death? Thanks for any info!

if I recall correctly you kinda quit the quest by going back to the start of it and enter back into town and seeing help from temple/chemist/witches house







also iirc the Resurrection is not always 100% successful and is dependent on characters Karma and age

you can also send your characters to the DOJO where they will spend a few years of their life training up certain stats, one at a time tho. So if you have weak def characters you can strengthen that particular stat in the DOJO

[gbapalyer]

Awesome game, played through it some time ago.